Rural mail-box.



O. N. GALLOWAY.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1912.

1,1 12,1 29. Petetttea Sept. 29, 1914.

j 2 BHEBTSSHEET l.

THE NORRIS PEIERS c0 FHOIO LHHOV. WASHINGTON, n 1..

O. N. GALLOWAY.

RURAL MAIL BOX.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 13, 1912.

1,1 12,129. Patented Sept. 29, 1914.

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RURAL MAIL-'13 ox.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application and August 13', 1912. SerialNo. 714,930.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES N. GALLO- WAY, acitizen of the United States, residing at N eersville, in the county ofLondon, State I of Virginia, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements 1n Rural Mail-Boxes;

and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same. a

This invention has reference to new and useful improvements in carryingdevices and has particular reference to a rural mail box.

The purpose of theinvention is to pro vide an efiiciently operativestructure em bodyin'g a box or carrier movable along a wire track wayfor transporting mail, and parcels in rural districts, between aresidence and road relatively distanced with re-' spect thereto. 1

The invention further resides in the novel actuating mechanism by whichthe opera tion of the drive parts. is arrestedat each end of the trackway, and in which novel means is also providedfor starting the driveparts of the device.

WVith the above and other objectsin view, the invention consists ofcertain combinations and arrangements of parts as will be hereinaftermore fully described and claimed, it being a still further object of theinvention to provide a devicewhich will not be likely to get out ofworking order.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a self pro-.

pelled mail box constructed in accordance with the invention and mountedupon a wire track way or aerial line supported upon suitable uprights orposts. Fig.2 isan end elevation thereof, Fig. 3 is an enlarged verticallongitudinal sectional view of the mail box, moreparticularlyillustrating the drive connections, Fig. 4: is a similarview but looking in the opposite direction from that shown in Fig.3,Fig. 5 isa cross sectional view taken on the line 55 ofFig. 8, Fig.' 6is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 8, Fig.7is an enlarged detail view of the oppositely operable drive mechanismsin a shiftedposition from that shown in Fig. 3, and Fig. '8 is ahorizontal sectional view on theline 88 of'Fig. 4.

In illustrating the practical embodiment of the invention, there isshown apair of end uprights or posts 10 and an intermedi: ate-upright orpost 11, any-number, of which.

may be employed according to the distance between theresidence andtheThe intermediatepost'is provided with a-bracket arm12 upon. which issupported anaerial line or wire13, the extremities of which areconnected to the posts or uprights 10 so that the latter members formabutments or. stops for the car to be hereinafter described, when thesame reaches its desired limit of, travel. The casing ofthe mail box isindicated by Patented Sept, i

the numeral l-f-andisprovided at its ends, with doors 15 for gainingaccess to the in terior portion of the box which contains themail.- Eachdoor is provided with suitable means for holding it in alocked position.

Itwill also be observed that the box is substantially rectangular incross section but has its upper portion or top wall 17. arched A:

to provideja perfect drain surface'andl the:

box isdividedhorizontally-by a partition 18 forming upper and lowercompartments. A pair of hangers 19 extend upwardly from the top of thebox near the ends thereof-land II rotatablyi support grooved wheels .20which travel; along the aerial line or wire and through "theinstrumentality of shafts 21 carry sprocket wheels 22 around which an.endless 'drive chain 23 is engaged. i

A frame standard24 "s pivotally. mounted on a shaft. 26 whichfhasitsends journaled in lugs disposed on the intermediate portion of thepartition 18, wthegstandard being adapted for longitudinal movement withre spect to the boxiThis standard rotatably, carries a transverselyarranged shaft 27 on" which :a comparatively large sprocket wheel 28 issecured while an endless drive chain 29 is engaged around said sprocket28and a sprocket, 30 mounted upon the extremity of one of the shafts21forimparting rotation to the drive chain 23 to rotate thegroovedj wheels'20 and cause the box to move along the aerial line orwire. ciated withthe sprocket wheel 28 and em bodies a substantiallyU-shaped bracketfilcarrying averticalshaft 32 whichhas a pin ion 33 at its upper endmeshing with a pinion 34 carried by the shaft 27 while the; r J

lower end ofthe shaft 32 carri'es a pinion 85 meshingwith' a pinioncarried by a flexible'shaft 36 rotatably supportedin a 'hori-- zontalposition and" carrying on its outer portion, a governor including awheelhaving-weighted'spring arms 37 and a hub having a brake disk 38connected'therewith to .slide on the shaft according .to the speed ofrotation I of the: shaft 36; and *the aconsequent bending of the arms.An upright 39 rota \\l end poles said rod will be thrown in anoptablysup-ports the outer end of the shaft 36 and has, a bracket arm 40pivotally supporting a brake 'member or lever 41 controlled by a rod 42pivoted thereto, the governor serving toregulate the speed of rotation'of the shaft 36 and consequently that through one end of the casing, sothat en-" of the drive chain and thereby controlling the velocity whichthe car will attain in moving :along the aerial line or wire. The rod-42is horizontally disposed and passed gagementof said rod with one of theend postswill apply the brake lever to the disk and bring. the'motor toa stop.

' i'Ateach end-ofthe upper compartment formed by the partition wall 18is a spiral spring "43' each of which is inelosed in a barrel or case44, each of the latter being provided with a gear 45 and each set ofsuch parts being each vro'tatably journaled upon '5 a shaft '46transversely journaled within the casing. A gear 47 is disposed in mesh,with each gear and a removable turning crank 48 is provided to engagesaid gear by which thespring maybe wound from the exterior of the box.Disposed in mesh with the gear 45 is a gear 49 with which is associatedan escapement wheel 50 having adjacent to the standard, to be movedintoa pallet 51 cooperating therewith and pivotally'supported upon thesupport for the gear as shown at 52. The standard 24 also carries across arm 53 arranged to engage the pallets or pawls 51 upon oppositemovement' of the standard26 to cause the pinion or gear 54 fixedlymounted on the shaft'27 engagement'with either of the gear wheels 49 tocause the reverse rotation of the shaft 27 and consequent oppositemovement of the carrier or boxalong the track way. The

brake "lever 41 has. an oppositely extending rod 55 connected therewith,the same-being movably supported on the arm 40 and operating through theopposite end of the casing so that as the box strikes one of the posite'direction to cause movement of. the

brake lever and consequent application of the-brake, while oppositegearingof the 1 parts to move the ear in the opposite directlon Wlllresult when the governor 1s released. The governor has of course beenpreviously brought stationary upon thearrival of the box at the end ofthe wire or aerial line owing'to the fact that the brake lever'w'illstrike the friction disk and bring the motor'to a stop and it will thusbe evident that continued operation of the device may be accomplished-bymoving the brake or clutchout of operation and the car therebydirectedtoward-the road-way or the residenee'as the occasion may require.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for From the foregoing descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be evidentthat I have provided a mail boX and carrier device which will greatlyassist in the convenience in transporting mail to and from the road inrural districts where it usually is necessary to leave to mail at theroad some distance from the residence and by this means, loss of mailand the inconvenience of traveling back and forth between the road andresidence will be obviated.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

- 1. A mail box delivery apparatus embodying a. track wire, areceptacle, hangers carried by the receptacle adjacent each end thereof,shafts rotatably carried by the hangers, grooved rollers mounted on theshafts and engageable along the wire, drive sprockets carried by theshafts, chains connecting said sprockets, means for rotating the saidshafts simultaneouslv and including a pivoted standard, a pinionrotatably carried by the standard, spring motors alternatelyintergearable with the pinion, means operated by the movement of thestandard to cause one motor to be brought stationary and the other foroperation at each end of the wire and means for controlling andarresting the speed of rotation of the pinion and its intergearedconnection with the first named shafts.

2. A delivery apparatus comprising a track wire, a receptacle, wheelscarried by the receptacle and engaging said wire, drive means carried bythe receptacle, intergeared connections between the drive means and thewheels for driving the receptacle, a governor for regulating the speedof the intergeared connections and means connected to said governor andextending exteriorly of the receptacle whereby pressure against saidmeans will actuate the governor to stop the driving means. v

3. The combination in a delivery apparatus including a traveling member,a driving mechanism therefor and a governor for regulating the drivemechanism and including a friction plate, of a lever pivotedintermediate of its end, a brake shoe at one end of said leverengageable with the friction plate, and slidably mounted rods connectedto the lever on opposite sides of its pivot and extending outwardly ofthe ends of the traveling member.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature, in presenceof two witnesses.

CHARLEtj N. GALLOWAY.

lVitnesses:

Bnssm N. GALLowAY, L. IRENE BLOGKER.

five cents eachdby addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O.

